In 2013, A 15-foot-tall bronze statue of Larry Bird was erected at Indiana State University more than three decades after the basketball great led the school to a national championship game. The 1,900-pound statue, tethered to steel cables, was lowered into place with a crane Monday outside the Terre Haute campus’ Hulman Center while sculptor Bill Wolfe and others watched. Wolfe asked the crane operator to swivel the statue as it was being positioned onto a concrete base because he wanted Bird’s eyes to line up with an adjacent intersection to ensure that he was in perfect shooting form. Bird led Indiana State to a national championship game in 1979, although the Sycamores lost the NCAA title to Magic Johnson’s Michigan State team. Bird, who grew up in French Lick, Ind., went on to star for the Boston Celtics and become one of greatest players in NBA history. Bird said his goal each day was to outwork everyone, not only on the opposing team but on my own team. I showed up early and I stayed late and I knew it was paying off. Birds hard work, and that of his Indiana State teammates, paid off in the form of Indiana States best basketball season in history. Though the Sycamores lost the game, the contest remains the highest rated NCAA championship game ever and the rivalry with Magic Johnson. The 1984 championship series in which Bird and the Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Johnson, prompted Bird to declare, This ones for Terre Haute, a reference to one of his lifes greatest disappointments - not being able to add the NCAA trophy to the extensive hardware collection he and his Sycamore teammates for three seasons brought to Hulman Center. Bird once famously said he would never coach at any level, but a few years after he retired as a player in 1995, the Indiana Pacers convinced him to do just that. Upon retiring from coaching, Bird served the Pacers as president of basketball operations and, after a brief hiatus, is back in that job this year. Larry loves the state of Indiana. He is as Hoosier as anybody could be and I think that he is exactly where he wants to be, said Jim Morris, president of Pacers Sports and Entertainment. We just took the Pacers to Manila and Taiwan and hes as famous there as he is here. Its extraordinary. Dan Bradley, president of Indiana State, told Bird that his tremendous work ethic is an inspiration to all of us and your unparalleled contributions to the game of basketball will never be eclipsed. Your name has become synonymous with Indiana State University and we are proud that the world knows that Larry Bird is a Sycamore. Bird said the statue dedication and the establishment of the Larry Bird Scholarship to support mens basketball at Indiana State is truly a great honor - not only for me but for my teammates from 79. You know, basketball is a team game and that year for some reason, God smiled down on us and said, ‘Hey, let these guys have a nice run this year together, but going into that season we had no idea what was about to happen. As for Birds rivalry with Johnson, give the victory to Bird when it comes to collegiate statues. The statue from the top of the basketball to the sidewalk measures 17 feet-one-and one-eighth inches, Bradley said. That is enough to dwarf the 12-foot structure at Michigan State ... The folks on the banks of the Red Cedar are not happy today. Bird is the only man to be named an MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year in the NBA.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 16:09:52 +0000